200 Stab Wounds. Just sit with that name for a minute. Close your eyes. Lean back in your chair. Now imagine what it would feel like to endure several hundred knife gashes all over your fleshy exterior. Picture the mess such a grisly form of torture would make all over your floor. The type of sight that could a reduce hardened crime scene investigator with 20 years on the job into a blubbering wreck.
That's the type of intensity that the Ohio slam death-metal band, 200 Stab Wounds, bring to their utterly decimating debut album, Slave to the Scalpel. If you're not in, leave now before it's too late, because we're stoked to be premiering the whole thing today (November 10th) ahead of its official release later this week via the venerable Maggot Stomp.
Following the band's much-hyped 2020 EP, Piles of Festering Decomposition, the nine-song Slave to the Scalpel is easily one of the most fresh and exciting death-metal albums of the entire year. On songs like "Skin Milk" and "Tow Rope Around the Throat," 200 Stab Wounds channel the farm equipment-sized riffage of bands like Cannibal Corpse and Bolt Thrower, and combine that with the destructive grooves of hardcore-minded groups like Nails and Xibalba.
With terrifically slicing production that makes the guitar tones spin like chainsaw blades and the drums hit like 10-car pile-ups, the band find the perfect balance between memorable riffs and plentiful breakdowns without ever becoming a redundant slog. It's a fucking crusher, and you can hear the whole thing below before it hits streaming services on Friday.
"We wanted to step it up after the release of our EP, Piles Of Festering Decomposition," the band say of Slave to the Scalpel. "The songs are heavier, faster, and more creative. We just wanted to create a riff-filled roller coaster ride of brutality and are proud of what we accomplished. We just finished up our first tour, over 20 dates where we headlined most of the shows. We played a good number of songs off the new album every night and carnage ensued."
Slave to the Scalpel is out Friday November 12th via Maggot Stomp, and physical editions are available for pre-order here.
